Polly Brannan + Aaron McKay

23 July 2025
6pm – 7:15pm
Roma Drom: Cliftonville Culture Centre

A pop-up poster-making workshop led by OSE’s Artistic Director Polly Brannan as part of OSE’s 2024-26 Civic Programme Home is where the garden is. 

The workshop took place with the English Language class at Roma Drom: Cliftonville Culture Centre, and served as a way to learn new vocabulary, practice speaking and share stories across different cultural backgrounds.

With Polly, participants were invited to make posters responding to the questions:

What is a home? What does it mean to have roots? What connects you to home? What does a garden mean to you? Who/what is a garden for? How are you connected to plants?

Typography used in the posters was co-designed by OSE’s Despacito Art School with Polly and our in-house graphic designer George Harding, who also designed the base poster motif, in response to Despacito’s designs.

The posters were exhibited as part of Despacito Art School’s 2025 Summer Exhibition Home is where the garden is at Roland Ross gallery on Northdown Road in Cliftonville.

This workshop was co-facilitated by older members of OSE’s Despacito Art School, as part of our wider work to offer training opportunities in the creative and cultural sector for young people (12+).

Aaron McKay is a gardener and Forest School teacher based in Ramsgate, Kent, with a specialism in child-led and outdoor learning. Aaron oversees OSE’s allotment planters at Ethel-Athel Alleway Garden. He has previously worked with grassroots, neurodivergent play charity See Me Play at The Garden Gate Project, and with Open School East’s Despacito Art School as part of the programme cycle Home is where the garden is.

This Civic Programme event is part of OSE’s two-year thematic cycle Home is where the garden is – find more events: https://openschooleast.org/home-is-civic